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Viodi View Newsletter – March 16th, 2005
- VoIP Swap Meet
- VON to Fast Net Futures
- Secure This
- Content Protection = Revenues
- Bill DeMuth CTO of SureWest to Speak in San Jose
- Man, They Are Still Magic, Even on Weed
- Chicago Dreams…
- Local Content & USTA’s Small Company Caucus
- Digital Hollywood & Broadband Services Forum
- The Korner -Can’t Shroud This Guy’s Passion
If one word could be used to describe Jeff Pulver, it would have to be passionate. He is clearly passionate about finding better ways for people to communicate across the distance barriers that keep them apart. And this passion obviously was stirred by his inspirations, which included the Jetsons, Get Smart (remember the shoe phone) and Star Wars. For the past ten years, he has been an evangelist for the idea of a more efficient communications system via packets. His background as a ham radio operator has prepared him well for reaching out to a variety of people to help him realize that dream.
With over 6,000 attendees, Pulver’s VON conference could be considered the modern version of a ham radio swap meet. Hundreds of speakers provided their views on the regulatory, technology and market environment for IP Communications. The conference is much more than just voice over IP; it is about all of the new ways people are using IP to communicate. Click here to read about some of the interesting observations from this exhausting four day event.
An event within the event was Dave Burstein and Jennie Bourne’s Fast Net Futures conference. What made Fast Forward Net interesting was that Burstein assembled a variety of industry leaders and limited them to two slides and one BIG IDEA. Burstein made this a very interactive conference, as he was constantly probing the speakers and encouraging a dialogue between the panelists and the audience.
Panelists represented independent telcos, large carriers, equipment vendors and analysts. Click here to read some of the highlights of this three day event. I also highly recommend Dave’s online newsletter, DSL Prime, as he has a great deal of insight as to direction of DSL technology and its impact on carriers. Ironically, the DSL Forum just announced that the number of DSL subscribers has surpassed the 100 million mark.
One of the things that impressed me at the VON conference is that Independent Telcos need to be looking at their services on a holistic basis. That is, their offering of video, data, telephony and wireless services need to be looked at a continuum of features, instead of separate products in order to maximize customers’ satisfaction and reduce the likelihood of churn. This same approach needs to be taken when engineering a system, as it could mean less duplication of capital equipment, as well as reduction in operating expenses.
Separate announcements by Iredeto Access and NDS indicate that the vendor community is beginning to design their products so that they support multiple platforms. Both Irdeto and NDS used the CTIA to announce extensions of their existing content security platforms to include support for securely transmitting data to cellphone and other mobile devices. As with IPTV in a wired environment, data security will be a must-have in order to obtain content for use in wireless networks.
SureWest led the industry by being the first independent telco to implement a complete content protection solution to ensure the security of their IPTV network. This has paid off, as they have been able to obtain a variety of content product. It is also showing up in their top and bottom lines as both broadband and wireless helped to drive SureWest’s revenues to a record $211 million for last year, as compared to $195 million in 2003. $10 million of this increase was due to the broadband component of their product, which is evidence of the success of their strategy to diversify their revenue streams by offering an array of communications products.
Bill DeMuth CTO of SureWest to Speak in San Jose
Telcos and others will have the opportunity to hear Bill DeMuth, CTO of SureWest, explain the secrets to SureWest’s success at the upcoming IPTV 2005 produced by S2 Data. In one his few appearances in 2005, DeMuth will provide the keynote speech at this event that will feature a mix of system suppliers, as well as chip manufacturers. Readers of the Viodi View can get a discount to this conference. Email us at [email protected] and we will send a link for Viodi View readers to receive a special discount.
Networking Isn’t Just for the Last Mile:
One of the things Viodi is helping S2 Data organize is some sort of reception for the telcos who attend the IPTV 2005 conference. The inspiration for this reception is the one we had for independent telcos last week’s after a intense day of sessions at the VON conference. As can be seen by looking at the animated gif and video, we had a good turn out and good time at this independent telco networking event. It was a very special evening as it featured music by my long-time friend, Daryl Patrick and his ensemble. I am especially grateful to Net.com and Pannaway for their sponsorship and support of this event, especially given that the idea for the party germinated about a week before the party.
Man, They Are Still Magic, Even on Weed
Speaking of parties, Pulver knows how to throw how a great one. Hiring the band Heart for the evening was perfect for the demographic of the audience. The heart of Heart, Ann and Nancy Wilson are ageless and sound as good as ever. Being 15 feet away from them, I saw can say these things with authority. The majority of the audience seemed to know all of the words to their old songs.
When it came to the tunes from Jupiter’s Darling, an album released last year, it was obvious that this was the first time most of the audience had these songs. Viodi View readers may remember that we featured one of the songs from this album last August. The significant thing about this album is that Heart released it on a legitimate peer-to-peer service, called Weed from Shared Media Licensing. Jupiter’s Darling is as good as any other album these Seattle sisters have created. Give it a listen or three for free. After three listens, you will be asked to buy a copy. For last year’s review of the Weed service, please click here.
Watching Heart inspired me to throw some sort of party for independent telcos for the swan song of Supercomm in June. I have the perfect entertainer in mind, as she is from the heartland and sings and writes from the heart. We will see if the necessary sponsorships can be pulled together to make this dream a reality. One thing that is coming together very quickly is the finalization of the agenda and the speakers for IP Video @ Supercomm. We are anticipating some major announcements as to the speakers in the next few weeks, so stay tuned.
Local Content & USTA’s Small Company Caucus
In the past few days, plans have been firmed up to go to Minneapolis on April 5th, 6th and 7th. On April 5th, we will be holding the Local Content Workshop at ADC’s facility. I am excited about this, as we will have a ton of new material and Roger Bindl will be tag teaming with me to lead this all day forum on the creation of local content by independent telcos. We are still finalizing the agenda and modiftying the web site, so expect to see additional agenda items over the next week. Thanks to ADC for generously offering up their facilities.
USTA’s Small Company Caucus is being held on the 6th and 7th. I have attended and recorded these sessions the past two years. The speakers at these conferences represent the regulatory, technical, marketing and operations viewpoints of interest to independent telcos. This event has grown significantly in the past two years and it highly recommended.
Digital Hollywood & Broadband Services Forum
Digital Hollywood is always a recommended forum to learn about the intersection of entertainment, advertising and technology. This year, I am looking forward to visiting the Broadband Services Forum meeting, which will be held on March 29th, the day before Digital Hollywood starts. The Broadband Services Forum is the new name for the entity that was formed by the merger of the Broadband Content Delivery Forum and the Service Creation Community. They have an interesting meeting agenda that includes speakers from SBC and Bell Canada.
The Korner – Can’t Shroud This Guy’s Passion
As I travel the heartland, I am continually amazed at the humility of the people I meet. Beneath their humble exterior, many are passionate and talented athletes, performers, citizens and artists. Often times, you have to pry their accomplishments out of these folks, as they seem to be reticent to talk about their talents. One of the humble guys I am proud to have as a friend is Russ Breault. It was about six months after I met Russ that I learned of Russ’ passion.
Russ is a Shroudie. In short, he is one of a handful of Shroud of Turin experts residing in the United States. He has devoted over 25 years to the study of a piece of cloth; sounds pretty boring at first. The reality is that the Shroud of Turin is a mystery worthy of a CSI episode. This mystery involves multiple disciplines including art, science, history, politics and religion and is as controversial today as it was when, in 1898, the image on the cloth was discovered to be a negative.
The latest controversy is that the methodology of the carbon dating from the 1988 testing was flawed. So, it looks like scientists do not know the age of the Shroud of Turin. The mystery lives. And Russ is a good one to explain the mystery of the Shroud via his web site or through a live talk. I encourage you to check out his web site, as he has now has some video interviews with other experts. His site is also a great resource for kids looking for a high school study project.
Russ is an example of the sort of creativity that people with a passion have. To maintain a competitive edge, it will be increasingly important for independent telcos to find the passionate people within their communities and help them realize their creativity by providing tools that will allow them to share their passion with their communities and the world.
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IP Video @ Supercomm Agenda
It’s 2005 and content is still King
Studio Requirements & the Impact on Tech Decisions
Grassroots content – Grow it locally
Success cases of Telco deployment of video and broadband services
The regulatory landscape for broadband – roundtable
Advertising – Content or clutter?
Practical uses of interactive television
The impact of the back-office on a successful rollout of broadband and video services
The impact of operations on the consumer experience
Speakers Include
- Craig Bender, Tut Systems
- Paul Berriman, PCCW
- Geoff Burke, Calix
- Roger Bindl, Viodi
- Laura Buddine, Iacta
- Jerry Brandt, Adventis
- Paul Connolly, Scientific Atlanta
- Bill Corrall, Sun Microsystems
- Rod Collingwood, TCT West
- Allison Dollar, Interactive Television Alliance
- Jim Farmer, FTTH Council
- Bo Ferm, Irdeto Access
- Matt Hallam, Consolidated Communications
- Jane Jude, Hargray
- Howard Juul, INS
- Steve Klein, Zhone Technologies
- Howard Liu, Ph.D, The Walt Disney Company
- Peter Pifer, ETI Software
- Robert Primosch, Wilkinson Barker Knauer, LLP
- Alan Toman, Travertine Entertainment
- Floyd Wagoner, Motorola
- Jeffrey Weber, SBC
Legally Download Heart’s “Oldest Story in the World” by Clicking here
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